Chapter 1049: Zhang Ya in Red

All the illusions had faded — this small town was nothing more than a nightmare used to imprison Yu Jian.

In this nightmare, Yu Jian had been wrapped in a thick shell, and the Nether Fetus had become the mother closest to him.

Perhaps the Nether Fetus wanted Yu Jian to understand it this way, to grasp the depth of its intentions. After all, they had once shared the same worldview — both were "monsters" whose malice emanated from the very depths of their hearts.

The Nether Fetus believed Yu Jian was the same kind of creature as itself. Yu Jian believed the Nether Fetus could help him accomplish many things. Once, the two had hit it off instantly, committing countless sins together.

But one day, Yu Jian had met the teacher who changed his life. He began to defy the Nether Fetus's words, to resist its commands.

Chen Ge looked at Yu Jian, locked inside Du Ming's body, and every question was answered at last.

He was glad he hadn't resorted to violence right away. If he had violated his own principles and wantonly destroyed this town, he very likely would have become the Nether Fetus's bargaining chip to win Yu Jian over.

The Nether Fetus would surely tell Yu Jian that every person harbored a demon inside — that it was perfectly normal, that everyone was capable of such things, and there was no reason to listen to that female teacher.

Once the Nether Fetus successfully convinced Yu Jian, Chen Ge would be facing not just the Nether Fetus — he would also have Yu Jian turning against him.

"The worst-case scenario didn't happen. My patience paid off." Chen Ge had given Yu Jian a lesson through his own actions. If meeting that teacher had been a beam of light in Yu Jian's life, letting him see the real world beyond the fog, then Chen Ge was a pair of hands reaching for him, trying to pull him out of the mire.

The Nether Fetus had ultimately failed to gain Yu Jian's approval. Everything it had done only provoked an even fiercer resistance.

Threads of black curse writhed across its body. The Nether Fetus could not comprehend it. Slowly, hatred began to fill the eyes it turned toward Yu Jian.

"I was so good to you — I helped you with everything I had, and this is how you treat me?" That infant face twisted and warped. The loathing in the Nether Fetus's heart had reached its peak. It couldn't understand — it had given so much, so why did the result always end up like this?

The words it kept spilling forth seemed to have been spoken to someone else before. It repeated them over and over, and its aura grew more terrifying by the second, quickly surpassing that of an ordinary Red Clothes.

"Could this thing really be the genuine Nether Fetus? Is it hiding right behind this door?" Chen Ge wasn't confident. His luck was notoriously bad under normal circumstances — but in certain abnormal situations, like when drawing rewards, he always seemed to share an inseparable bond with vengeful spirits and Red Clothes.

Yu Jian was unconscious, entombed in layers of curses, and Chen Ge couldn't extract him. Leaving him here alone might lead to disaster.

After deliberating, Chen Ge pulled the comic album from his backpack. Regardless of whether the Nether Fetus before him was real or fake, he had decided to settle it right here.

This immersion in the world behind the door had pushed his mental state to its limit. His eyes were bloodshot, teetering on the edge of collapse.

"It's time to end this."

He flipped open the comic album and called out the names of his employees. Within the bloodstained pages, it was as though a tide of blood was surging, and a pungent, coppery stench forcibly overpowered the thick foulness filling the room.

The Red Clothes vengeful spirit and the most vicious of curses faced off in the office — two forces that would be utterly horrifying in any ordinary person's eyes collided head-on.

"Du Ming's mother is far stronger than that woman from Wu Sheng's world. They're not even on the same level."

There was nowhere to hide in the cramped space. As one blood-red figure after another materialized, this bizarre world was painted in a shade of crimson that made the heart stop.

Blood flowed freely. A pair of pale hands pierced through the cage woven by curses and tore Yu Jian out from within.

"Xu Yin, Lao Bai, stay by my side for now. Don't go in yet."

It had taken a full ten days of calling before the barrier of the world behind the door finally broke. Now that the employees had appeared, this false world wouldn't last much longer.

The scene woven from the memories of Chen Ge, the Nether Fetus, and Yu Jian was about to collapse, and Chen Ge would destroy this dream of his own with his own hands.

"You two go test the waters first." Chen Ge summoned the Costumed Red Clothes he'd found in the Virtual Future Amusement Park and the Water Ghost Red Clothes from the Jiangyuan residential complex.

They had been cooped up for a long time and were glad to be out — only to be greeted by the sight of the Nether Fetus continuously darkening. That rapidly escalating aura of terror put both Red Clothes under enormous pressure.

"The snail behind Jiang Ming's door had a hard shell that took ten Red Clothes working together to crack; the faceless woman behind Wu Sheng's door could manipulate blood and act with nine minds at once; the Nether Fetus behind Fang Yu's door was cold and calculating, able to wield curses and lay traps. Every Nether Fetus behind each door had different abilities. The one in front of us has unknown powers — better to send the Costumed Red Clothes and the Water Ghost Red Clothes in to probe first."

Chen Ge was extremely cautious. He had endured this long behind the door, and he absolutely refused to let something go wrong at the final moment.

"Xiao Bu, watch for the right moment — be ready to strike at any time!"

Among the Red Clothes surrounding Chen Ge, the strongest now was Xiao Bu.

This little girl, ever since becoming the true Door-Opener of Liwan Town, had never once displayed her full strength.

All the Red Clothes had appeared, but Chen Ge only had time to issue a few brief instructions before they moved.

The battles between Red Clothes vengeful spirits were staggeringly bloody and cruel. Every one of them was entangled in deep resentment. Unless crushed by absolutely overwhelming force, once they engaged, it was a fight to the death — no one could pull them apart.

Of course, Men Nan, the exceptionally rational Red Clothes, was an exception. He was one of a kind.

The Water Ghost Red Clothes and the Costumed Red Clothes braced themselves and appeared before Du Ming's mother. The two of them had no choice but to go in — there were no other options.

The Costumed Red Clothes was relatively willing. She already harbored deep hatred toward the Nether Fetus — it had forcibly seized her shrine.

The Water Ghost Red Clothes, on the other hand, had even begun entertaining thoughts of defecting. This was nothing like what he'd originally envisioned: "Chen Ge, our agreement didn't include fighting other Red Clothes, did it?"

He wanted to wriggle out of it. After all, the Nether Fetus disguised as Du Ming's mother gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.

"That is exactly our agreement. Didn't you ask me to help you find the Door-Opener of the Jiangyuan residential complex? The Nether Fetus is the Door-Opener — kill it, and you'll be the master of that door." Chen Ge wasn't lying. At the very least, he didn't think he'd said a single false word.

"We agreed to kill the Door-Opener together!" The Water Ghost Red Clothes was dominant in water, but here he couldn't use his abilities at all. Before long, curses had sliced open wounds across his body. "Help me! Help me!"

"What others give you is called charity. What you earn for yourself is called dignity." Chen Ge's eyes were locked on the Water Ghost Red Clothes. Threads of curse slipped through the wounds and crawled into his body, making their way toward his heart.

He was gradually losing his reason. Every negative emotion buried in his heart was being drawn out. If this continued, he would become a collection of resentment incapable of communication.

Nothing left but hatred, loathing, and the thirst to kill.

"This Nether Fetus behind the door can corrode obsession with its curses? Pollute the heart of a Red Clothes?"

A Red Clothes's heart was the very foundation of their existence — a crystallization of obsession. Chen Ge had never expected this Nether Fetus's curse to be this terrifying.

"End this quickly! All together! And be careful not to let it touch you!"

Having figured out its abilities, Chen Ge no longer held back.

The Nether Fetus's curse was too fearsome. With power like this, if it managed to drag things out past the initial phase and the curse fully took hold, Chen Ge's numerical advantage would mean nothing.

A Red Clothes whose heart had been corrupted would tear apart everything in its sight — former colleagues and the Horror House's master, Chen Ge, included.

"Now I've probed out several of the Nether Fetus's abilities. The more I learn about it, the more terrifying it becomes."